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Fracking, farmers, and rural electrification in India

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  • Fetter, T. Robert
  • Usmani, Faraz

Abstract

The shale gas revolution in the United States induced an unprecedented commodity boom across northwestern India. Leveraging population-based discontinuities in the contemporaneous roll-out of India’s national rural electrification scheme, we show that access to electricity increased total employment and non-agricultural employment in villages affected by this exogenous economic shock, but had no impact on labor markets elsewhere. This combination of two natural experiments highlights how complementary economic conditions drive heterogeneity in the labor-market impacts of rural electrification. It also helps explain the large variation in the reported impacts of such resource-intensive infrastructure investments globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Fetter, T. Robert & Usmani, Faraz, 2024. "Fracking, farmers, and rural electrification in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0304387824000579
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103308
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    Cited by:

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    2. Adom, Philip Kofi & Nsabimana, Aimable, 2022. "Rural access to electricity and welfare outcomes in Rwanda: Addressing issues of transitional heterogeneities and between and within gender disparities," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Kenneth Lee & Edward Miguel & Catherine Wolfram, 2020. "Does Household Electrification Supercharge Economic Development?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 122-144, Winter.
    4. Pelz, Setu & Pachauri, Shonali & Falchetta, Giacomo, 2023. "Short-run effects of grid electricity access on rural non-farm entrepreneurship and employment in Ethiopia and Nigeria," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    5. Pelz, Setu & Aklin, Michaël & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2021. "Electrification and productive use among micro- and small-enterprises in rural North India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Pradhan Shrestha, Rosy & Jirakiattikul, Sopin & Lohani, Sunil Prasad & Shrestha, Mandip, 2023. "Perceived impact of electricity on productive end use and its reality: Transition from electricity to income for rural Nepalese women," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    7. Jeuland, Marc & Fetter, T. Robert & Li, Yating & Pattanayak, Subhrendu K. & Usmani, Faraz & Bluffstone, Randall A. & Chávez, Carlos & Girardeau, Hannah & Hassen, Sied & Jagger, Pamela & Jaime, Mónica , 2021. "Is energy the golden thread? A systematic review of the impacts of modern and traditional energy use in low- and middle-income countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    8. Priya Manwaring & Tanner Regan, 2023. "Public Disclosure and Tax Compliance: Evidence from Uganda," CSAE Working Paper Series 2023-05, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    9. Ankel-Peters, Jörg & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2023. "Rural electrification, the credibility revolution, and the limits of evidence-based policy," Ruhr Economic Papers 1051, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    10. Dendup, Ngawang, 2022. "Returns to grid electricity on firewood and kerosene: Mechanism," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rural electrification; Employment; Natural experiment; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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